Madonna and Child with St Jerome

Madonna and Child with St Jerome
Artist	Pinturicchio
Year	1480s
Medium	Oil on panel
Dimensions	49.5 cm × 38 cm (19.5 in × 15 in)
Location	Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

The Madonna and Child with St Jerome is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Pinturicchio, painted around 1481 and housed in the Gemäldegalerie of Berlin, Germany.

Description

The painting shows an infrequent composition, with the Virgin holding the Child who writes on a book, an allusion to his intervention in the Holy Books. On the right is St. Jerome, recognizable by his cardinal dress, leaving a book on the marble throne where the Madonna sits: in this case this is one of his traditional attributes of knowledge.

Jesus wears a pearl-lined coif which can be seen in another Pinturicchio's work of the period, the Crucifixion between Sts. Jerome and Christoper (c. 1475), now at the Borghese Gallery. The theme, used also by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, was later abandoned by the Umbrian artist in favour of a free, curly hair.

On the right is an open landscape, a typical element of the Renaissance Umbrian school.

Sources

• Acidini, Cristina (2004). "Pintoricchio". Pittori del Rinascimento. Florence: Scala. ISBN 88-8117-099-X.